The 3D Puzzle Memory

I helped my husband put a 3D puzzle together today from the company https://ugearsmodels.com.   It was a combination safe made entirely of wooden pieces.  I was the piece preparer, locating the pieces for the upcoming steps, removing them from the laser cut sheets of wood and laying them out in order so he could do the assembling.     We’ve done this type of work together before with Legos, but this particular model brought back memories of a similar project I’d helped with when I was a child many years ago.

On Christmas day we always went to my parent’s best friend’s house for dinner.   Their son was four years older and one of my good friends, albeit a friend I looked up to because a four year age difference when your a child is a big difference in both knowledge and maturity.  So basically, I looked up to him in every way.

That Christmas he’d gotten a clock that needed a lot of assembly.   It told time via small metal balls and lots of black plastic parts and chutes to make it work.  Richard and I sat at a desk with Richard diligently following every step of the instructions while I helped in what must have been a nominal way until the project was completed.

When it was done we sat and marveled at how it worked.  Every minute a ball would roll through the machine.  At five minutes the weight was shifted by the five balls in the minutes area and a “five minute” value ball would be added into the larger minutes stack.   At sixty minutes twelve balls would roll around the chutes and an hour ball would be added into the hour slot.   The most exciting event of all was when it was 11:59 at which point all three areas would be full and one minute later every ball would empty itself out to reset to twelve o’clock.

It was an exciting little machine.   I did a quick web search and it’s apparently called “The Time Machine".   Here’s a picture:

I haven’t seen one in decades, but it looks just like I remember it, black plastic and all.   That was a fun Christmas and an exciting project to help with.   I think Richard kept it for years.   I wonder if he still has it.

The Big Boy Update:  My son is good at throwing a frisbee.   I got a large nylon flying disk (which I’m incorrectly referring to as a “frisbee” because that’s the word I associate with all things classified as “flying discs).   My son was playing out in the yard with our sitter and then later with my husband and me in the evening.    He could even aim and hit the tree trunk.    

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter said in the car today, “Mom, do you know who I’m going to marry?  I’m going to marry Madison”.   My son said, “no, you can’t marry a girl”.   My daughter followed up with, “yes you can!”  My son thought for a second and said, “but I don’t want to marry a boy.”   My husband and I explained the important thing was to marry someone you loved and we knew they’d make the best choice for them when the time came.    They both thought that made sense.